1 And the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this, that you wanted to do, so that you would not call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they rebuked him strongly, and came close to using violence.

2 And he responded to them: “But what could I have done that would be so great as what you have done? Is not one bunch of grapes of Ephraim better than the vintages of Abiezer?

3 The Lord has delivered into your hands the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What could I have done that would be so great as what you have done?” And when he had said this, their spirit, which was swelling up against him, was quieted.

4 And when Gideon had arrived at the Jordan, he crossed over it with the three hundred men who were with him. And they were so weary that they were unable to pursue those who were fleeing.

5 And he said to the men of Succoth, “I beg you, give bread to the people who are with me, for they are greatly weakened, so that we may be able to pursue Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

6 The leaders of Succoth answered, “Perhaps the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna are in your hand, and for this reason, you request that we give bread to your army.”

7 And he said to them, “So then, when the Lord will have delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns and briers of the desert.”

8 And going up from there, he arrived at Penuel. And he spoke to the men of that place similarly. And they also answered him, just as the men of Succoth had answered.

9 And so he said to them also, “When I will have returned as a victor in peace, I will destroy this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were resting with their entire army. For fifteen thousand men were left out of all the troops of the eastern people. And one hundred twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword had been cut down.

11 And Gideon ascended by the way of those who were dwelling in tents, to the eastern part of Nobah and Jogbehah. And he struck the camp of the enemies, who were confident and were suspecting nothing adverse.

12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled. And Gideon pursued and overtook them, sending their entire army into confusion.

13 And returning from the war before sunrise,

14 he took a boy from among the men of Succoth. And he asked him the names of the leaders and elders of Succoth. And he described seventy-seven men.

15 And he went to Succoth, and he said to them: “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, over whom you rebuked me, saying: ‘Perhaps the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna are in your hands, and for this reason, you request that we give bread to men who are languishing and weakened.’ “

16 Therefore, he took the elders of the city, and, using the thorns and briers of the desert, he threshed them with these, and he cut the men of Succoth to pieces.

17 He also overturned the tower of Penuel, and he killed the men of the city.

18 And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were those whom you killed at Tabor?” They responded, “They were like you, and one of them was like the son of a king.”

19 He answered them: “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had preserved them, I would not kill you.”

20 And he said to Jether, his firstborn son, “Rise up, and put them to death.” But he did not draw his sword. For he was afraid, being still a boy.

21 And Zebah and Zalmunna said: “You should rise up and rush against us. For the strength of a man is in accord with his age.” Gideon rose up, and he killed Zebah and Zalmunna. And he took the ornaments and studs, with which the necks of the royal camels are usually adorned.

22 And all the men of Israel said to Gideon: “You should rule over us, and your son, and your son’s son. For you freed us from the hand of Midian.”

23 And he said to them: “I will not rule over you. Neither shall my son rule over you. Instead, the Lord shall rule over you.”

24 And he said to them: “I petition one request from you. Give me the earrings from your spoils.” For the Ishmaelites were accustomed to wear gold earrings.

25 They responded, “We are very willing to give them.” And spreading a cloak on the ground, they cast upon it the earrings from the spoils.

26 And the weight of the earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, aside from the ornaments, and necklaces, and purple garments, which the kings of Midian were accustomed to use, and aside from the gold chains on the camels.

27 And Gideon made an ephod from these, and he kept it in his city, Ophrah. And all of Israel committed fornication with it, and it became a ruin to Gideon and to all his house.

28 But Midian was humbled before the sons of Israel. Neither were they able any longer to lift up their necks. But the land rested for forty years, while Gideon presided.

29 And so Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went and lived in his own house.

30 And he had seventy sons, who went forth from his own thigh. For he had many wives.

31 But his concubine, whom he had in Shechem, bore him a son named Abimelech.

32 And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age, and he was buried in the sepulcher of his father, at Ophrah, of the family of Ezri.

33 But after Gideon died, the sons of Israel turned away, and they committed fornication with the Baals. And they struck a covenant with Baal, so that he would be their god.

34 And they did not remember the Lord their God, who rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on all sides.

35 Neither did they show mercy to the house of Jerubbaal Gideon, in accord with all the good that he had done for Israel.

1 Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem, to his maternal brothers, and he spoke to them, and to all the relatives of the house of his maternal grandfather, saying:

2 Speak to all the men of Shechem: Which is better for you: that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, should rule over you, or that one man should rule over you? And consider also that I am your bone and your flesh.

3 And his maternal brothers spoke about him to all the men of Shechem, all these words, and they inclined their hearts after Abimelech, saying, “He is our brother.”

4 And they gave to him the weight of seventy silver coins from the shrine of Baal-berith. With this, he hired for himself indigent and wandering men, and they followed him.

5 And he went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and he killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, upon one stone. And there remained only Joatham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, and he was in hiding.

6 Then all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the families of the city of Millo, and they went and appointed Abimelech as king, beside the oak that stood at Shechem.

7 When this had been reported to Jotham, he went and stood at the top of Mount Gerizim. And lifting up his voice, he cried out and said: “Listen to me, men of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.

8 The trees went to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

9 And it responded, ‘How could I abandon my fatness, which both gods and men make use of, and depart to be promoted among the trees?’

10 And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and accept royal power over us.’

11 And it responded to them, ‘How could I abandon my sweetness, and my very sweet fruits, and depart to be promoted among the other trees?’

12 And the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and reign over us.’

13 And it responded to them, ‘How could I abandon my wine, which gives joy to God and men, and be promoted among the other trees?’

14 And all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come and reign over us.’

15 And it responded to them: ‘If truly you would appoint me as king, come and rest under my shadow. But if you are not willing, let fire go forth from the bramble, and let it devour the cedars of Lebanon.’ “

16 So now, if you are upright and without sin in appointing Abimelech as a king over you, and if you have acted well with Jerubbaal, and with his house, and if you have repaid, in turn, the benefits of him who fought on your behalf,

17 and who gave his life to dangers, so that he might rescue you from the hand of Midian,

18 though you now have risen up against my father’s house, and have killed his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have appointed Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, as a king over the inhabitants of Shechem, since he is your brother,

19 if therefore you are upright and have acted without fault with Jerubbaal and his house, then you should rejoice on this day in Abimelech, and he should rejoice in you.

20 But if you have acted perversely, may fire go forth from him and consume the inhabitants of Shechem and the town of Millo. And may fire go forth from the men of Shechem and from the town of Millo, and devour Abimelech.”

21 And when he had said these things, he fled and went away to Beer. And he lived in that place, out of fear of Abimelech, his brother.

22 And so Abimelech reigned over Israel for three years.

23 And the Lord put a very grievous spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Shechem, who began to detest him,

24 and to place blame for the crime of the killing of the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, and for the shedding of their blood, upon Abimelech, their brother, and upon the rest of the leaders of the Shechemites, who assisted him.

25 And they stationed an ambush against him at the summit of the mountains. And while they were waiting for his arrival, they committed robberies, taking spoils from those passing by. And this was reported to Abimelech.

26 Now Gaal, the son of Ebed, went with his brothers, and crossed over to Shechem. And the inhabitants of Shechem, uplifted by his arrival,

27 departed into the fields, laying waste to the vineyards, and trampling the grapes. And while singing and dancing, they entered into the shrine of their god. And while feasting and drinking, they cursed Abimelech.

28 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, cried out: “Who is Abimelech, and what is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, who has appointed Zebul, his servant, as ruler over the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem? Why then should we serve him?

29 I wish that someone would set this people under my hand, so that I might take away Abimelech from their midst.” And it was told to Abimelech, “Gather the multitude of an army, and approach.”

30 For Zebul, the ruler of the city, upon hearing the words of Gaal, the son of Ebed, became very angry.

&

1 And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of Neraiah, the son of Mahseiah, the son of Zedekiah, the son of Hasadiah, the son Hilkiah, wrote in Babylon,

2 in the fifth year, on the seventh day of the month, since the time when the Chaldeans captured Jerusalem and set it on fire.

3 And Baruch read the words of this book to the ears of Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and to the ears of the entire people, who came to the book:

4 even to the ears of the powerful sons of kings, and to the ears of the elders, and to the ears of the people, from the least to the greatest of them, of all those living in Babylon, near the river Sud.

5 And upon hearing it, they wept and fasted and prayed in the sight of the Lord.

6 And they collected money in accordance with whatever each one was able to handover.

7 And they sent it to Jerusalem to Jehoiakim, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shalum the priest, and to the priests, and to all the people, who were found with him in Jerusalem.

8 At that time, he received the vessels of the temple of the Lord (which had been carried away from the temple) so as to return them to the land of Judah, on the tenth day of the month Sivan. These were the silver vessels, which Zedekiah, the son of Josiah king of Judah, had made.

9 After this, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, captured Jeconiah, and the leaders, and all the powerful, and the people of the land, and led them captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.

10 And they said, “Behold we have sent you money with which to buy holocausts and frankincense. Therefore, make manna and offer it for sin at the altar of the Lord our God.

11 And pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and for the life of Belshazzar his son, so that their days may be just like the days of the heaven above the earth,

12 and so that the Lord may give virtue to us, and enlighten our eyes, so that we may live under the shadow of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Belshazzar his son, and so that we may serve them for many days and may find favor in their sight.

13 And pray for us also to the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God, and the madness of our sin has not been driven away from us even to this day.

14 And read this book, which we have sent to you to be recited in the temple of the Lord, on solemn days and on other suitable days.

15 And you will say, ‘To the Lord our God is justice, but to us is confusion of our face, just as it is this day for all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

16 even for our kings, and our leaders, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers.

17 We have sinned before the Lord our God and we have not believed, lacking confidence in him.

18 And we have not been submissive to him, and we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God, so as to walk in his commandments, which he has given to us.

19 From the day that he led our fathers out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, we were unfaithful to the Lord our God, and, having been scattered, we fell away. We did not listen to his voice.

20 And we joined ourselves to many evils and to the curses which the Lord established through Moses, his servant, who led our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land flowing with milk and honey, just as it is in the present day.

21 And we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God, according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us.

22 And we have gone astray, each one after the inclinations of his own malignant heart, serving strange gods and doing evil before the eyes of the Lord our God.

Psalms: Psalms – 65:1-7

1 To the end, a psalm of David. The canticle of Jeremias and Ezechiel to the people of the captivity, when they began to go out.

2 A Hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem.

3 O hear my prayer: all flesh shall come to thee.

4 The words of the wicked have prevailed over us: and thou wilt pardon our transgressions.

5 Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be filled with the good things of thy house; holy is thy temple,

6 Wonderful in justice. Hear us, O God our saviour, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off.

7 Thou who preparest the mountains by thy strength, being girded with power:

New Testament: John – 4:19-40

19 The woman said to him: “Lord, I see that you are a Prophet.

20 Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

21 Jesus said to her: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father, neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem.

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know. For salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming, and it is now, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeks such persons who may worship him.

24 God is Spirit. And so, those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said to him: “I know that the Messiah is coming (who is called the Christ). And then, when he will have arrived, he will announce everything to us.”

26 Jesus said to her: “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”

27 And then his disciples arrived. And they wondered that he was speaking with the woman. Yet no one said: “What are you seeking?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

28 And so the woman left behind her water jar and went into the city. And she said to the men there:

29 Come and see a man who has told me all the things that I have done. Is he not the Christ?

30 Therefore, they went out of the city and came to him.

31 Meanwhile, the disciples petitioned him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat which you do not know.”

33 Therefore, the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”

34 Jesus said to them: “My food is to do the will of the One who sent me, so that I may perfect his work.

35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then the harvest arrives?’ Behold, I say to you: Lift up your eyes and look at the countryside; for it is already ripe for the harvest.

36 For he who reaps, receives wages and gathers fruit unto eternal life, so that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

37 For in this the word is true: that it is one who sows, and it is another who reaps.

38 I have sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

39 Now many of the Samaritans from that city believed in him, because of the word of the woman who was offering testimony: “For he told me all the things that I have done.”

40 Therefore, when the Samaritans had come to him, they petitioned him to lodge there. And he lodged there for two days.

Simplest Bible in a Year plan compiled using the “Catholic Public Domain Version Bible“. This is not the Readings at the Mass. For the Mass Readings, check the Mass Readings taken from the New Jerusalem Bible or the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible.

Pradeep Augustine is the founder of Catholic Gallery. He is a passionate Writer, An Artist, a computer geek and a part-time Blogger who loves to write a lot of contents on Catholicism in his free time. He is the founder of the Technical Blog www.GetCoolTricks.com, where he shares a lot of technical Contents. Stay connected with him on his social profiles.

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